Well who could miss the headlines in the common media last week about the commuters strolling past the diabetic laying prone on the sidewalk and not checking to see if he needed help? It was his sister who rang the shame bell.
Shame, shame, shame on those commuters was her message. But how many times has she walked past the homeless on Davie Street, tucked under a blanket in winter and stopped to see if the person was actually breathing or not? This selective concern we have for our fellow human beings is miasmatic and seriously hypocritical. We are to suppose that her brother was gainfully employed and not homeless so he was better or more deserving of our attention?
Strolling about the west end last Christmas Eve, I spied several people, including an elderly Asian woman pushing her lonely cart at that late hour, quite homeless, entirely destitute and others beneath blankets. I did not stop to check every one of them to see if they were breathing. (I used to wait to see if I could detect the blanket move to an exhaling breath but I don’t any more.)
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